Last week I argued that any webmasters who are just starting the website development process need to start by asking what purpose their new websites will serve. That question relates to user experience – why users would bother to use this new website in the first place. Once we have a purpose, we have a few different options on where to go next – but let’s talk about the most common reason we build adult websites in the first place: making money.So ask yourself this: how is your website going to make money? Assume for the sake of argument that your website manages to attract a regular audience that meets or exceeds your expectations. And also assume that the audience finds the content on your website interesting. Clicks alone don’t pay the cost of hosting, and they certainly won’t pay for your car insurance – not even the kind sold by little green cartoon lizards.

Traditional adult websites have a few different choices for collecting money. Webmasters can apply for their own merchant accounts, or they can use third-party payment companies that take higher percentages but provide services like customer support. There are alternative billing options as well, like telephone billing services. These options require a website that has something to sell directly to the surfer, which isn’t always the case – information websites for example usually provide user content free of charge. So for the sake of this discussion, let’s talk about sites that are advertisement driven, which means using affiliate programs. (We’ll get to the other options next time out.)

The simplest method for making money with a website is usually to just sign up for affiliate programs, and then use your website to promote other commercial websites. You provide the eyeballs, they provide the service, and you both split the profits. This is almost always the easiest choice, and it might be your only realistic choice if the content you offer isn’t anything that people are likely to pay to receive. Going the affiliate program route really just means that your website’s revenues are advertisement driven – but in this case the advertisers will pay you on a per-sale basis rather than a per-impression basis.

If you choose to go the affiliate program route exclusively, then you must understand that the burden of converting sales is partially on you. You’ll need to make sure you pick affiliate programs that allow you to advertise something that is likely to be of interest to your audience. You may also want to pick affiliate programs that offer content that you can use on your own website. Blog sites for example might want pictures to post to spice up the blog text. Or you may want to feature live cam girls right on your page.

But a word of warning about affiliate programs – they’re only as good as the people who run them. When you use an affiliate program, it can be hard to know if that program is being honest with you – are they paying you for every sale you generate, or is there some funny stuff going on behind the scenes? There’s no perfect answer to this problem, so I’ll give you the best advice I know to give on this one – pick programs that appear stable and have been around for a little while. Use message boards like the YNOT.com message boards to ask other webmasters about the programs they use. And don’t be afraid to try a bunch, and then keep only the ones that produce the best results. If you’re really paranoid about possible “shaving” of sales, you can pick programs that are run on third party billing services, like ones offered through CCBill.com.

Never pay any kind of a fee when signing up for an affiliate program – your affiliate account should be 100% free of charge. Write down all the information you need to remember, like your username or account name, passwords, and the location of any free content or advertiser tools provided by the program. If the program offers a newsletter, sign up – many programs deliver free content that you can use on your website through these email newsletters.

Signing up for a program is the easy part – the hard part is getting enough traffic to the program to start expecting sales. When evaluating a program, try to send at least a few thousand clicks before looking at sales results. If you’ve sent a few thousands clicks but haven’t gotten any sales yet, it might be time to try another program. And remember, you can evaluate three or four different programs at the same time. Never put all your eggs in one basket.